Some background on our environment: IP phone population – over 400, distributed at 4 sites, largest ~150, smallest 60; all Cisco

Why implement VOIP?

greenfield site – needed a phone system and VOIP made sense for a new site install to position for future

acquired company in process of implementing VOIP – came into a situation where an acquisition had purchased VOIP and I became owner of the implementation; had issues with chosen vendor and equipment lists; eventually came out successful but was not without its pain during implementation.

forward looking strategy – setup the company to have regional communication hubs for IP telephony; we have VOIP in North America, Europe and Asia now; this could permit us to leverage our WAN for toll bypass provided we build other local site infrastructure to support this technology.

Our biggest challenges:

users: they find the phones easy to use and very good features; however, there are some features like managing meet-me conference calling that they feel are too onerous so don’t take the time to use this cost-saving feature

administrators: setting up phones is an infrequent event so it is not a real simple task to setup a new phone; moves are made easier than traditional systems; troubleshooting skills are different since voice now is carried over the data network until it reaches a PSTN gateway

Best features:

dial another site using extensions rather than 10 digit or more dialing

“on phone” directory – can lookup another IP phone user’s extension directly on the phone rather than finding them on a piece of paper or website somewhere

easier conference calling than old system

mobile-phone like features: listing missed calls; call history log

moves are made easier; adds are a challenge since done infrequently

Desires for additional features/services:

video

more ringtones (must have been someone young and a heavy cell phone user)

The network MUST be reliable or voice will suffer. Traditional phone companies have had 100+ years to make a bulletproof network.

Costs. It’s not cheap to implement this technology. You have to weigh the ability of the organization to support non-industry leading implementations versus choosing the best technology you can afford.

Maintenance. Upgrading the software in the servers, gateways and phones is much riskier than upgrading a traditional PBX environment.

What are the rewards?

It works!

It positions the organization to take advantage of other services provided that it is not simply an IT-led project but meets business requirements.

Feel free to add comments on your own experiences, concerns. This is a great forum and keep up the good work of information sharing!

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Life in the trenches as a data network and information security manager. This blog covers real world issues affecting a real global network.